Habit of Moral Obligation, a must for a seeker

Habit of Moral Obligation, a must for a seeker

The term moral obligation has a number of meanings in moral philosophy, in religion, and in layman's terms. Generally speaking, when someone says of an act that it is a "moral obligation," they refer to a belief that the act is one prescribed by their set of values.

A common example of a moral obligation is the act of charity. People are not legally required to give to charities, but they may feel a personal obligation to do so because they believe it is the right thing to do. External pressures like religious beliefs, particularly in Islam &Sikhism, where charity is considered a pillar of faith, can also play a role in charitable activities. When people give to charities, they do so with their personal values as a motivator.

Having a sense of moral obligation arises from ideas about right and wrong. These ideas are usually shaped by social, family, and other external pressures. Religious faith often plays a role, as many religions have a number of precepts defining right and wrong behavior and providing guidance to the faithful.

Children raised in religious households often internalize these values, and even if they leave the faith later, they may act with a sense of moral obligation in accordance with those values.

This reminds me a story: “Once a money lender was approached by a young business man for a loan. The moneylender invited him for a lunch so that he could set the deal. He arranged lunch in the courtyard of his house, where his dog and tenant were also present.

The moneylender served food to his guest and sat a far in a corner of the courtyard in silence till young man finished the food. As the lunch got over, the money lender said tersely, “I can’t give you loan on my terms as I don’t find you a genuine person who can repay my loan.”

Baffled on the sudden change of mood of the moneylender; the young man said: “What is wrong with me, Sir? You have been very sympathetic towards me since the first day of our meetings and you invited me today for such a delicious lunch. Why have you suddenly changed your mind?”

The moneylender told him that he didn’t have the habit of obligation. On being asked how he reached that conclusion, the moneylender said: “See, my dog was present during lunch and you did not even throw a piece of bread to him while he was surely expecting it from you. If you can’t give something to someone from what I gave to you then how I can expect that you will repay my loan?”

The fable has a message: that the expression of obligation is a sort of habit, and the habit of obligation is a must for a seeker of spirituality as it reflects ones character.

Obligation arises out of a sense of duty. When people give to charities, they do so with their personal values as a motivator. Having a sense of moral obligation arises from ideas about right and wrong. These ideas are usually shaped by social, family, and other external pressures.

A moral obligation is a duty or responsibility someone feels honor-bound to perform because of personal beliefs and values. This concept is explored in fields like philosophy, ethics, and psychology, where people are interested in the origins of human behavior and the roots of the decision-making process. Some scholars suggest that moral obligation is the result of external factors and pressures on the individual, while others feel it is internal, and some think a mix of both is involved.

Where does this feeling of duty or moral obligation come from? What is its source? Isn't it that voice of prudence, wisdom, good sense deep within us? The voice of reason or that voice of knowledge of right and wrong, of conscience; Are there people who don't have these voices within them? Or does everyone have them but some people don't hear them because they have gotten into the habit of ignoring them? And others hear them because they are in the habit of listening to them and obeying them.

Believe me through the positive development of habits we can change our destiny. But one thing is sure here that our destiny will rely on the forms of habits and the habit of caring, obligation and helping others are those things that make a person so wonderful no matter what faith, religion, status he belongs to. Aristotle too, had said somewhat like this, centuries ago: “Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”